1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to players such as audio players that produce audio output, televisions, and video players that produce video output. More particularly, the present invention relates to a player in which audio recording or video recording can be performed even when a recording medium is loaded after the audio recording or the video recording is requested.
2. Description of the Related Art
With recent progress in audio technology, audio players have adopted various types of audio sources, that is, not only audio sources that have hitherto been widely used, such as radio receivers, CD players, MD players, and cassette players, but also players that play back CD-Rs or CD-RWs on which audio data is recorded in a compressed form by MP3, memory card players that play back memory cards each having a memory chip in which similar audio data is recorded, DAT players, and DVD audio players.
While such audio sources including a radio receiver are sometimes used as separate players, a majority of audio players are used as players equipped with multiple sources in which an arbitrary source can be selected and the number of medium drivers and audio circuits is minimized.
In particular, in car-mounted audio players, consideration is often required in order to arrange as many types of audio sources as possible within a limited space. For that purpose, recent car-mounted audio players can play media, such as MDLPs on which a large amount of audio data can be recorded in a compressed manner and CD-Rs on which audio data is recorded in a compressed manner particularly by MP3. Users create media using a player or a personal computer installed at home, and play back the media on a car-mounted audio player in the car. In particular, memory cards each having a memory chip installed therein have recently increased in capacity. Since such a memory card can be loaded in quite a small space in the audio player, it is attracting attention as a medium that is particularly suitable for use in car-mounted audio players.
In an audio player, such as a car-mounted audio player, which produces audio output by appropriately combining these audio sources, the user can selectively operate an arbitrary audio source, for example, using selection switches provided on the front surface of the audio player or selection switches provided on a remote control.
The above-described audio sources can use many media which are not only simply played back, but also on which the user can arbitrarily record data. For example, cassette tape players and MD players can directly record audio data. Players that thus directly record data have also been proposed which can record data on CD-Rs, CD-RWs, and memory cards. In this case, one audio apparatus includes a plurality of recording sources, and can record data on a medium corresponding to an arbitrary source.
The above-described audio sources are roughly classified into audio sources, such as radio receivers and hard disks, that are directly built into an audio player, and audio sources in which audio data recording media, such as CDs, MDs, and memory cards, are removably loaded. Some of the audio sources are capable of recording and use removable media.
When the user loads a medium for one removable-media audio source into an audio player, it is determined by the audio player that the user wants to play back audio data recorded on the loaded medium, and the audio source corresponding to the medium is automatically put into a state of readiness to play back the medium, or is made to actually perform a playback operation.
In an audio player disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-36192, when playback of a removable medium is stopped, the playback stop position is stored in a nonvolatile memory. When the same medium is played back again later, the stored playback stop position is read out so that playback can be started from the position at which the previous playback operation was stopped.
On the other hand, with recent progress in audiovisual technology, not only television receivers and cassette video decks that have hitherto been used, but also DVD players that play back commercially available DVDs, and players for DVD-Rs, DVD-RWs, DVD+Rs, DVD+RWs, and DVD-RAMs that record data from television programs on DVD disks and play back the recorded data, have come into use. Furthermore, television programs and so on are recorded on hard disks. Many users record digital video pictures of their own design on a hard disk and view the pictures, or record edited digital video pictures on various kinds of writable DVDs, and view the pictures.
In particular, hard disks have been installed in various apparatuses, including the above-described audio apparatuses, as a result of size and price reduction and an increase in capacity. Hard disks are also used in audio apparatuses including navigation systems in cars, and can be used for video recording. Furthermore, memory cards have recently increased in capacity, and some of them provide a memory capacity of several gigabytes. Television pictures are sometimes recorded on such a memory card, and are played back by a video player that is capable of reading memory cards.
Since such a memory card is quite compact, a player can be easily installed in a car-mounted audiovisual apparatus. In particular, since terrestrial digital television receivers that can receive clear pictures, and navigation systems equipped with such a television receiving function have been widely applied, the users can view many television programs on a monitor screen. In this case, the users can record desired pictures in a preloaded memory card while watching the television so that they can view the pictures again later. The memory card can be removable so that the recorded pictures can be viewed on different players. These operations can also be performed in home audiovisual apparatuses.
As described above, audio players and video players use various types of removable-media sources, and an increasing number of removable-media sources are capable of audio and video recording. In a player having such a function of operating a removable-media source capable of audio and video recording, for example, while the user is listening to a favorite song on the radio, the song can be immediately recorded by pressing a recording button. In particular, since a medium such as a memory card is easily handled and recording thereon can be performed the moment audio recording is requested, it is expected to be widely used in the future.
The above-described memory card allows audio data to be read and written at high speed, and does not cause data deterioration during recording. Therefore, it is easy to select a desired musical piece from musical pieces recorded on, for example, a CD or a CD-R, to copy the piece onto a memory card, and to listen to the musical piece from the memory card.
In this way, in a case in which the user wants to immediately record a musical piece, which is to be played, on a memory card or the like while listening to a radio program on an audio player, or in a case in which the user wants to copy a specific musical piece onto a memory card during playback of a CD or a CD-R or during a playback standby state, if a memory card is not loaded through an insertion slot at the time at which a recording request is entered, a prompt for loading of a memory card is displayed on a screen or is generated as a warning sound, and the player is placed in a standby state until the user loads a memory card.
In conventional players, in a case in which the user then inserts a memory card through the slot, that is, in a case in which a medium is loaded in a removable-media source, it is determined that the user wants to play back audio data recorded on the medium, and the output source is switched to the removable-media source even when, for example, the radio is producing output, as described above. Similarly, when a request is entered to copy a specific musical piece onto a memory card in a state in which the audio player is, for example, in a CD playback state, and when a memory card is not loaded, the audio player is automatically switched to a memory-card output state in response to loading of a memory card.
For this reason, even when the user immediately inserts a memory card in the slot to record a musical piece generated from the radio, as described above, the player is switched to a memory-card output state. Therefore, in order to start recording, the user must switch the audio player to a radio output state again and then enter a recording start request. At the time when recording is started, the musical piece that the user wants to record has been played partway, and is not completely recorded. This also applies to a case in which a musical piece recorded on a CD is copied onto a memory card. After the player is automatically placed into a memory-card output state by the insertion of a memory card into the slot, the user must return the player to a CD playback state, and then start recording again. These operations are troublesome.
This also applies not only to a case in which recording on a memory card is performed in the audio player, but also to a case in which a cassette tape is not loaded before recording operation, a case in which the player is capable of recording on a CD-R and a CD-RW, and a case in which data is recorded in audio sources using other removable media.
The above problem also arises in a video player that produces video output. For example, in a case in which a DVD-R is not loaded when the user wants to immediately record while watching the television by means of a DVD-R or a DVD-RW video tuner, the user loads a DVD-R according to a prompt for loading displayed on the screen. In this case, the player is set to a DVD-R output state by the above-described preset operation. For this reason, the user must switch the player state to a television output state again, and give directions to perform recording. A similar problem also arises when a recording medium is not loaded in a removable-media source at the time when a recording request is entered, as in the above-described high-capacity memory cards that are expected to become popular in the future.
In some players, in a case in which recording is performed using a removable-media source, for example, in a case in which the user requests recording on a cassette tape while listening to the radio, even when a cassette tape is loaded after the request, the output state is not switched to a cassette-tape output state. Similarly, in a video tape recorder equipped with a television receiver, in a case in which a video tape is loaded after the user requests recording on a video tape while watching the television, output from the radio or the television is continued without switching the recorder to a video-tape output state.
However, in such players, the user must perform an audio or visual recording start operation after a cassette tape or a video tape is loaded, and this is troublesome. In such players, originally, output from or recording on a cassette tape can be performed only by performing a playback or recording start operation after a cassette tape is loaded while listening to the radio. Similarly, even when the user loads a video tape while watching a television program by means of a video tape recorder, there is a need to perform a playback or recording start operation to carry out playback and recording.